Using a cosmic simulation computer, scientists have recently discovered the origins of black holes located at the center of galaxies.
According to Live Science, through simulated modeling, a research team from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics created a black hole with a mass 300 billion times that of our Sun.
This simulation was conducted to uncover the origins of black holes that lie at the centers of galaxies with masses exceeding 10 billion solar masses. In addition to known supermassive black holes, scientists sometimes discover supermassive black holes with masses far beyond what we can imagine. These are often referred to as the heaviest objects in the universe.
Simulation of the merger of a triple star system conducted by Harvard-Smithsonian. (Photo: Harvard-Smithsonian).
A prime example occurred in 2019 when scientists observed the phenomenon of three galaxies colliding, placing the supermassive black holes at their centers on a collision course to merge. This collision took place nearly 1 billion light-years away from Earth, in the SDSS J084905.51+111447.2 star system. To observe this phenomenon, astronomers needed both ground-based and space telescopes.
Using a high-resolution cosmic simulation known as ASTRID, the Harvard-Smithsonian research team modeled the evolution of the universe as it appeared approximately 11 billion years ago. In the simulation, the team witnessed the birth of a supermassive black hole following the merger of three galaxies. Each of these galaxies contained its own quasar, a supermassive black hole that consumed matter and emitted intense radiation that could outshine all the stars in their host galaxies combined.
When the trio of quasars met, they formed an even larger black hole while triggering a “frenzied” material accretion process, allowing the merging object to reach a supermassive state.
“We found a very rare system containing a trio of quasars at the ‘noon’ of the universe—around 11 billion years ago when galaxies and supermassive black holes reached their peak activity,” said Dr. Yueying Ni, the leader of the research team.
“This system consists of three quasars powered by supermassive black holes, each galaxy having a mass ten times that of our Milky Way,” he added.
Supermassive black holes on a collision path as three galaxies collide in the SDSS J084905.51+111447.2 star system. (Photo: NASA)
Supercomputer simulations indicate that the three galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers merged into a single galaxy with a “supermassive” black hole at its core.
The research team’s simulations show that the merger of the trio of quasars lasted 150 million years and resulted in the formation of the largest black hole in the entire simulation, with a mass greater than 300 billion times that of our Sun, even larger than all the stars in the Milky Way combined.
According to Dr. Yueying Ni, the combination of a triple quasar system along with the collision of three galaxies is extremely rare. This explains why scientists have not yet been able to detect them or observe the formation of a supermassive black hole from such an event.
The research by the Harvard-Smithsonian team was published in the Astrophysical Journal on November 30, 2022.
